Home Away from Home

Alright, I’ve FINALLY gotten around to writing. Life over the past month has left me almost forgetting that I’m a tourist here and that I partake in the cheesy act of blogging. I have spent the last month living next to the ocean in a place called Diamond Harbour on the Banks Peninsula in the South Island. I have entered the life of a Kiwi family and transitioned gradually from a new WWOOFer, to a favorite WWOOFer, to a super nanny, co-outdoor ed instructor, and family friend. My original plan was to stay 3 weeks and I am leaving after 5. While my jobs started out as washing windows, cleaning, and weeding, they quickly became more family-immersed after we found we all meshed together so well. Charlotte, the often “problematic” 4-yr old with an attitude and personality as sophisticated as most adults I know, has a history of telling visiting WWOOFers to go back home every moment of their stay. No one has ever been trusted with her, as she throws rip-roaring tantrums and has the alter-ego of a ferocious little troll. But after hours of fairy picnics, Dora the Explorer parties, reading stories, piggy back rides and other adventures, I've tamed into her to a model child and made myself a lovely new 4 year old friend. Growing up with international visitors in her home, she is very interested in language and we are constantly comparing our different words for things and our accents. She'll say "Phoebe, how do you say grass in your language?” “Grass,” I’ll reply. “No, it’s grahs!!!” she’ll say. And I'm learning new words from her such as lollies for candy or plasters for band-aids. I’ve become a regular chauffer, taking her to pre-school (left side of the road, stick-shift I might add), which can also include neighborhood kids and frequent ear-shrieking sing-a-longs on tape. Sometimes I ask myself how I got here-driving along ocean-side cliff edges and through mountain ranges as pretty as postcards chauffeuring local 4 yr-old, Middle Earth children around in the back seat. But I love the continuous spontaneity my life has now taken on and have learned to feel at home with whatever I’m doing. When I am not reading aloud stories, playing Harry Potter, or cooking dinner for the family, I join my hosts Pete and Kirsten at their outdoor education school. My time spent at the school varies from taking publicity photos, doing odd jobs around the park, gliding through trees strapped in a harness through their high-ropes course (helping foreign exchange students named Pedro safely make it to the top tire), putting on hundreds of harnesses onto hundreds of kids, showing kids how to repel, and working as a coasteering guide for students from the city high schools of Christchurch. This consists of leading groups of 13 and 14 year olds along jagged ocean rock edges, picking up starfish, and supervising cliff jumping into the ocean. Even New Zealand which is gung-ho for the outdoors, has kids who have spent little time in nature. I happily watched these city kids explore the coast like a new playground and find the courage to jump off cliffs into the sea; something most had never done before. Speaking of not doing things before, I have virtually no coasteering experience and laughed when I had to lead groups swiftly over huge volcanic boulders and along cliff edges telling them to trust me and guide them along the safest path. Head-to-toe in wetsuit, helmet, goggles, and a huge pack full of first-aid and emergency gear, I shimmied across 1-inchwide ledges high above the ocean hoping to God I didn’t fall over while leading these Christchurch kids. These crazy experiences have become routine and I receive these situations with open arms-you never know what WWOOFing will lead you to!

The in-between-moments when I am not working at the camp or driving children around, or making dinner or lunch, or mopping floors, hanging laundry, reading Harry Potter aloud, or drawing mermaids and doing other wwoofing “duties,” I spend my time exploring the ocean, going on amazing hikes and bike rides, swimming and snorkeling, and rock climbing. Also living with the family while I’ve been here, is a 19-yr old who is a family friend and works at the camp. This has provided a nice balance of when I am tired of dance parties with small children, John and I are able to blow off steam by jumping off high things into bodies of water or going rock climbing. Just as much as I feel close to this Kiwi family, John has also become my Kiwi brother, with arguments over doing the dishes and all. Pictured right is our documentation of my severe rock climbing injury. New Zealand brings the extreme adventure side out of anybody! Some other fellow-adventuring friends made a pit stop at Diamond Harbou. A van-full of my fellow Ithacan/traveling NZ buddies pitched their tents in my hosts’ yard and frolicked for a night with me on the beach and in the ocean. This surreal, fantasy, Kiwi-life of mine was made reality as I introduced Ithaca kids I grew up with to my beloved new New Zealand family. My friends cooked dinner for my host family and performed several reenactments of Little Red Riding Hood with Charlie the 4 yr old to the pleasure of us all. (pictured below is Ithacan Alex embracing the magic and splendor of Diamond Harbour).
After 3 months in New Zealand and 5 weeks spent with this family, I finally feel that I truly am LIVING here. My brain is no longer racking itself with lists of cultural differences. I am less cautious about my “Americaness,” and I am completely comfortable and feel fully assimilated to this new country and culture. The only American accents I frequently hear are on tv. I have unconsciously adopted Kiwi language and figure of speech into my own vocabulary. I am asked where I’m from a lot less frequently and was even asked if I was from Invacargill-a city down South apparently where there are a lot of hicks that role their r’s. Even with the hick reputation and all, I was pretty pleased to be thought of possibly being a New Zealander. The most exciting part of it all though, is the intimate connections I am making with the people and the land. This is the longest I’ve lived near an ocean and am awed by the tides, storm swells, animals, shells, and the way the sea changes each day. I am humbled by the ability to fly across the world and find families that take you in and feel like your own. There is so much more of New Zealand to see, and I am thrilled I get to do it my own way. “WWOOFing” is my ticket in, but from there a whole lot more can unfold. Next I head inland to the Mackenzie countryside where I am staying with a family on their farm for a week or two. Think cows, sheep dogs, New Zealand’s biggest mountains, and some of the clearest night skies in the world. See you there!